12. The viands were various,
To each of their taste;
And the Bee brought his honey
To crown the repast.

13. There, close on his haunches,
So solemn and wise,

The Frog from a corner
Looked up to the skies;

14. And the Squirrel, well pleased
Such diversion to see,

Sat munching a nut

Overhead in a tree.

15. Then out came the Spider,
With fingers so fine,

To show his dexterity
On the tight line;

16. From one branch to another
His cobwebs he slung,

Then as quick as an arrow
He darted along.

17. But just in the middle,
Oh, shocking to tell!

From his rope in an instant
Poor Harlequin fell.

18. Then the Grasshopper came

With a jerk and a spring:

Very long was his leg,

Though but short was his wing;

1. IN the dark forests of Russia, where the snow lies on the ground for eight months in the year, wolves roam about in countless troops; and it is a fearful thing for

the traveler, especially if night overtakes him, to hear their famished howlings as they approach nearer and nearer to him.

2. A Russian nobleman, with his wife and a young daughter, was traveling in a sleigh over a bleak plain. About nightfall they reached an inn, and the nobleman called for a relay of horses to go on. The innkeeper begged him not to proceed. "There is danger ahead," said he "the wolves are out."

3. The traveler thought the object of the man was to keep him as a guest for the night, and, saying it was too early in the season for wolves, ordered the horses to be put to. In spite of the repeated warnings of the landlord, the party proceeded on their way.

4. The driver was a serf who had been born on the nobleman's estate, and who loved his master as he loved his life. The sleigh sped swiftly over the hard snow, and there seemed no signs of danger. The moon began to shed her light, so that the road seemed like polished silver.

5. Suddenly the little girl said to her father, "What is that strange, dull sound I heard just now?" Her father replied, "Nothing but the wind sighing through the trees of the forest."

6. The child shut her eyes, and kept still for a while; but in a few minutes, with a face pale with fear, she turned to her father, and said, "Surely that is not the wind: I hear it again; do you not hear it too? Listen!" The nobleman listened, and far, far away in the distance behind him, but distinct enough in the clear, frosty air, he heard a sound of which he knew the meaning, though those who were with him did not.